Hover over Romans 1:20-22 for proof of God's existence, and over Matthew 5:27-28 for Judgment Day’s perfect standard. Then hover over John 3:16-18 for what God did, and over Acts 17:30-31 for what to do.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Many nowadays think that any talk of the exclusivity of Jesus Christ is intolerant and unloving and could even be considered by the politically correct as "hate speech." The thought that He is the only way to find everlasting life, is seen by them as nothing but religious extremism.

As we know, on August the 5th, 2010, part of the San José copper-gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, Chile, collapsed, leaving 33 men trapped 2,300 feet under ground. However, all 33 miners were safely rescued and brought to the surface on 13 October 2010 (69 days later) through a narrow hole that had been drilled down to reach them.

It was estimated more than a billion people watched the rescue on live television around the world. Each of the men had to be winched in a rescue capsule, reaching the surface in 16 minutes. The total cost of the rescue operation was estimated at 20 million U.S. dollars.

Can you imagine being one of those men, hopelessly trapped deeper than 2,300 feet under the ground? They could move around, and they had limited food and water, but it was just a matter of time until they died in the darkness, in a mass grave.

But hope came from above. Compassionate rescuers spent millions of dollars and went to great effort to drill one narrow way down to them, so that they could be brought back from the very brink of a sure death. When the offer of rescue came, all 33 of them gladly climbed into that narrow capsule, and did exactly as they were instructed to by their rescuers.

Not one of them said, "I am offended that there is only one way out of here. I don’t like this hateful narrow way, and anyone who offers it is narrow minded. Instead, I am going to dig my own way out, thank you!" Anyone who would say something like that would have to be insane!

Yet such is the way of those who are offended by what God did to rescue hopeless sinners from a sure death. Until God gives us light through the gospel, we sit helplessly in the black shadow of death. We can move around and we have food and drink, but we are trapped, waiting to die. It's just a matter of time. That's reality.

Yet rescue came from above. God Himself is rich in mercy and didn’t leave us alone in our darkness. He made a way for us to be rescued, and it didn’t cost a mere 20 million dollars. It cost the precious blood of His Son, who suffered agony on the cross of Calvary. God said through the prophets that He would rescue us from the grave, and that there would be only one way of salvation. He then became a Man and in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and bore the punishment for the sin of the world, so that we could come out of the darkness into the glorious light, out of sure death, into everlasting life. So there is only one way to be saved, and it's straight and it's narrow. Obey the gospel and be rescued from the power of the grave.

Please, oh please, don’t insist that you try and dig your way out of this mess. Repent of your sins, and trust alone in the Savior: "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12, NKJV)